By the time it hit midday, the Royal Ocean Racing Club confirmed that online entries for the Rolex Fastnet Race had hit capacity. Less than 24-hours after the online entry system opened, 300 boats had registered for this classic race. This sets a new record previously held by the last race in 2011 when the limit was reached after ten days.

Henny Abbenhues' First 42s7, Blondie was the first boat to enter, only seven seconds after entries opened.

Nick Elliott, RORC Racing Manager confirmed: 'It's been an astonishing 24 hours with the 300 boat entry limit for the Rolex Fastnet Race being reached in record time. We are delighted that the race is so popular and that the places have once again been taken up faster than ever before.'

All is not necessarily lost for boats who have not been so quick off the mark to enter, as a waiting list can be joined at: http://remus.rorc.org. Past experience shows that approximately 10 to 15% of the boats entered do not go on to compete in the race, so it is very likely that places will become available.